Few know the scrappiness of Los Angeles’ tech startup community, Silicon Beach, like Enplug Co-Founder and COO Alex Ross. Since graduating from UCLA back in 2012, Alex has helped lead Enplug from 5 co-founders living in an apartment in Koreatown, to having over 500 customers in every continent around the world. Read on to learn about Alex’s experiences since starting Enplug, and what he loves to do (hint: there’s a little World of Warcraft)!
Enplug Spotlights is a series of posts that take a look at our amazing team. Learn more about the team that’s building the world’s first Public Computing Platform.
What are you most excited about these days?
I’m excited by how rapidly Enplug is evolving. Every month is a huge step forward and brings a fresh challenge. It’s like we’re exploring the unknown, and there’s nothing more that I want than to be an explorer.
Favorite holiday?
July 4th, because of the warm weather and fireworks.
Favorite Game of Thrones character?
Ned Stark because he never played the game of thrones.
Favorite hobby you’ve picked up?
Distance running. It’s my favorite time to think.
When did you start working with Enplug?
May 2012
What is your fondest Enplug memory?
There are so many! I think it would be moving into the apartment where we started because now I recognize how crazy we were, moving into a dirt-cheap apartment to start a company with virtual strangers. It’s my favorite memory because I clearly remember how none of the reasons why it was a terrible idea mattered – we just did it! It felt like cliff jumping.
What apps do you find yourself using most?
Mailbox and Slack. I’m a communication tool poweruser.
What’s your favorite website?
worldofwarcraft.com. I used to be a serious gamer, and WoW was one of my favorites. I think it taught me more about teamwork than many sports teams did. Very occasionally I still like to pull up the website to see what’s going on in the game, because it gives me such a strong dose of nostalgia. Besides that I don’t spend much time on the internet doing internet-things.
What’s the best part of living in LA?
The energy. I love coming back to LA from a trip to just about anywhere. The moment I step out into the LA air, I can feel the energy of the city and it gets me going. After having spent time in San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle, LA is still my favorite by a long shot.
What’s your best recipe?
Stir fried organic lean ground beef, veggies and refried beans wrapped in a tortilla. Power food!
Slack, email, or text?
Email. Slack can be a bit distracting at times, and I’d usually prefer to just talk. I prefer email because I use it as a task list. If I’m not an inbox zero, I’m not done for the day.
If you could step into the shoes of one person for a day, who would you choose?
The president. I want to know who’s really in control.
If you could have coffee with someone from the past, who would it be?
Albert Einstein. I’d love to ask him his thoughts on existence.
What’s the biggest thing you learned about working in tech?
The challenges never feel like what you expected them to. I think that’s a huge understated mental hurdle to get over. Everybody expects different components of building something new to be difficult depending on what their background is (engineer, designer, sales). When a challenge comes, it usually comes in an unexpected form. Because it doesn’t match what you implicitly expected it to, it might cause you distress when instead you should take the challenge in stride and keep your eye on the ball, because that is the challenge of building something new.
What’s the best thing that happened this year?
Our team grew and I am genuinely proud to work alongside everybody. Creating an effective team is incredibly difficult, and somehow we’re getting it right.
What’s the best thing that happened this month?
We had a great leadership retreat with the Enplug team captains, and we’ve been successfully heads-down powering through company-building projects.
What’s the last book you read?
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s a fantastic book that teaches you how to more effectively interact with others in life and business. I think human-to-human interactions are incredibly complex, and it’s important to pick up tools for navigating the world from books like this one.
What’s the last song you listened to?
Crystallize by Lindsey Stirling. Lindsey, if you’re reading this, will you marry me?
What’s the best way to decompress?
For me, it’s finishing whatever is making me “compress”, or going on a long run. I’m terrible at relaxing because I have a burning desire to always be working toward a goal.
Worst subject in school?
Chemistry. I would love to take it now, but in school I didn’t “get” how Chemistry is all of what we are as biological beings, so it seemed very dry (molecules, bonds, etc).
What is your super power?
I feel like I have a fire burning inside of me that’ll never go out. It gives me the energy to work as long as I need and always give my 100%.
What is your spirit animal?
A lion!
Coffee or tea?
Coffee with two shots of espresso, black.
Favorite game?
Mafia. We played it on our leadership retreat with our team captains, and on a recent ski trip with a bunch of our teammates. I love how the game is different every round, and becomes more fun as the people you play with learn new strategies.
Favorite movie of all time?
Avatar. I love any movie that gives me a glimpse of what another world will look like.
Favorite author of all time?
Ayn Rand. The Fountainhead is my favorite book (so far).
Any hidden talents?
I’m flexible because I stretch every night and after running. I can also make duck sounds, and I can crack the knuckles on my hands using only one hand like I’m about to get in a bar fight. I also speak, read and write Chinese (to a degree) because I studied it in college.
Any advice to your younger self?
Open your eyes and think for yourself little Alex! I don’t feel like I truly “woke up” until college.
What is one skill still unmastered?
Interacting with others, and playing guitar.
Which of these was your favorite question?
“What is your fondest Enplug memory?” because I had to really think back, and I loved how many there were to choose from.
What was it really like, starting a company with a bunch of strangers? Where did you think we’d be by 2015, and how do you feel about where we’re heading now?
It was everything I didn’t expect it to be! The incredible amount of trust we placed in each other. The loneliness of starting a company from scratch. The amount of trust you have to place in yourself to know beyond doubt that you can succeed. Recognizing that who you are is not who you need to be, and changing.
I have no idea where I thought we’d be by 2015, but I love where we’re going now. What blows my mind is how real it all is. We have a rock solid team, wonderful customers, a giant market opportunity, and superior tech. And we’re still evolving at a breakneck pace. Perhaps the most exciting part is that we have a giant challenge ahead of us, and I know we’re capable of accomplishing what we’ve set out to do if we do our best.